Rangers plan to be buyers at trade deadline

The Kitchener Rangers head coach and general manager was busy working the phones at the Aud Monday after being away from the club for about a month with Canada’s national team at the world junior championships in Ufa, Russia.

“We’re in a position where we will try to acquire assets,” said Spott. “We are talking to a few teams about trying to make our hockey team better.”

Monday capped a busy day on the OHL trade front.

Two former Rangers were swapped when Waterloo native Zach Lorentz was sent from Windsor to Plymouth for forward Alex Aleardi. Lorentz was shipped to Peterborough by Kitchener in the off-season in a deal for Matt Puempel and is joining his third team this season. Aleardi played for the Rangers from 2008-10.

Windsor also added import centre Alexander Khokhlachev back to the roster. The 19-year-old spent the past two years with the Spits before beginning this season with Russia’s Spartak Moscow.

The Rangers started the year saying they wanted to add some key pieces to make a run at an OHL title. That stance hasn’t changed.

“We’ve talked to a number of teams about a number of possibilities but … it’s not easy to get a partner, it just isn’t,” said Spott.

No one on the Rangers’ roster is untradeable. And after goalie John Gibson’s gold medal performance at the world juniors, his stock is at an all-time high. But Spott said he has yet to receive an offer for the netminder.

“There are a lot of teams looking for goaltenders who have asked ‘would you ever consider moving John Gibson’ but at the end of the day, he’s not the best junior goalie in the OHL, he’s the best junior goalie in the CHL,” said Spott. “I don’t believe there is a market for John Gibson that would appease our needs.”

That means the Rangers would have to be blown away by a trade offer to part with Gibson. And, for the most part, clubs aren’t calling Kitchener to cherry pick its stars.

“I think everybody realizes now with Gibson, Ryan Murphy and Matt Puempel, that they would assume we’re a team that would be adding some assets,” said Spott. “Most teams that are contacting us are looking to see if we’re interested in their veteran players.”

Kitchener’s needs haven’t changed. The skipper wants to add scoring depth and a veteran defenceman and, as it stands now, has until Thursday at noon to make any moves. However, the OHL’s competition committee — which includes Spott — is deciding Tuesday morning if it will extend the deadline since some teams will be losing players to NHL training camps in the wake of the recent resolution to the labour dispute.

Another option for the Rangers is the potential return of overage centre Andrew Crescenzi, a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect that was recalled by the club’s AHL affiliate the Toronto Marlies Monday.

“That does not look like that is going to happen,” said Spott.

Gibson got back to Kitchener late Sunday and will sit out Tuesday’s game against Guelph due to jet lag but is expected to start Thursday in Peterborough. Murphy and forward Tobias Rieder are slated to dress against the Storm, after competing at the worlds, while forward Radek Faksa doesn’t arrive in Canada until Thursday and won’t see action until this weekend.